Long has it been since anyone has heard from the village of Mitra’s Fist. Hundreds of years ago the village, once an oft-visited stop along a well-worn trade route, fell into shadow beneath the shifting sands as the mightly gods Mitra and Set fought to destroy each other – annihilating their sacred temples and artifacts. In the nearest towns and villages tales can still be heard of the folks who went to Mitra’s Fist in search of fortune among the buried ruins. Among those tales there are no happy endings: the fortune seekers never returned, and the village of Mitra’s Fist has grown quiet...too quiet. Rumors persist of sightings of villagers in Mitra’s Fist who should long ago have perished among the sand, and of horrors that haunt the night in Redmoom Pass. Occasionally, through error or bravado, caravans of pilgrims or traders are known to have ventured into Redmoon Pass, but they are rarely, if ever heard from again.

Folk from the nearby towns and villages would know what has happened to their loved ones who have vanished within Redmoon Pass. The priests of Mitra would have their glorious tower rebuilt upon its original site. The leaders from the surrounding area would have the pass cleansed of the evil which has left Mitra’s Fist silent for 300 years. And the mighty lords of Viridistan and the City State would pay handsomely to have the most direct trading route to the Holy Cities re-opened. Yet the rumors are clear: none who go in return to tell of it. Something unspeakably wrong lurks beneath the sands of Mitra’s Fist…waiting…

Well, that's good news. Citadel of Fire is just awesome, so I expect this to be very good as well. I shall be buying Dark Tower for sure. Keep the good work. We're playing all Judges modules in La Marca (Spain's number one dungeon crawling gaming club).

As the aging guide studied his map under the heat of the morning sun, he turned his head and noticed the Northerner looking over his shoulder. “I don’t understand why we have to travel so far north to Kod’l just to catch the road to the Holy Cities! My wife grows tired of this journey. What is this place on the map called ‘Redmoon Pass’? It appears that it would cut 10 days off of our road.”

The old man’s eyes grew wide, but he smiled in an attempt to calm his customer down. “His Excellency is very smart with maps, yes. But you cannot know about this place, ‘Redmoon Pass’. It is no longer an option, your Excellency. We may not take it. The road to Kod’l will take less time than you think…”

“Do not trifle with me, old man! Perhaps you have ‘friends’ waiting for us in Kod’l? Friends who might wish to get their hands on my cargo? I say we take this pass and save ourselves 10 days!”

Merchants. The old man thought to himself. They always think someone is out to cheat them. “Excellency, hear me. Redmoon Pass is known to all who live in this land. It is a place of great sorrow and death. The very gods themselves have cursed that place for all eternity. None who journey through there live to tell of it. None. You may go that way if you wish. My men and I will go to Kod’l.”

The merchant stared off into the mountains to the West, wondering which pass was the cursed one. “Sounds like a lot of old wives’ tales to me.” He muttered. “Maybe after we get to Shealoh I’ll return with some strong arms and see about Redmoon Pass after all.”

The old guide shook his head and walked up to the lead camel, adjusting the packs. Fine, he thought to himself, then I will be taking your wife back to Grindwell alone next month, and she will be a widow…

Scott, if you have played our Thieves Fortress of Badabaskor and/or our Citadel of Fire and played the RPG Realms version, I will let you be the judge of whether you wish to buy our 3.5 version of Dark Tower. I think they speak for themselves. The RPG Realms version to be fair was done very early when very few people knew much about d20. A lot of things they did well, like the cover art.

Scott, if you have played our Thieves Fortress of Badabaskor and/or our Citadel of Fire and played the RPG Realms version, I will let you be the judge of whether you wish to buy our 3.5 version of Dark Tower. I think they speak for themselves.

As a huge fan of the Wilderlands and the better Judges Guild adventures from BITD, I have to say that I am very impressed and pleased with the new renditions of Thieves Fortress of Badabaskor and Citadel of Fire.

I had a copy of the original Citadel of Fire from when it was released, but never managed to run it for any of my groups. I guess they never got high enough level to take on the Citadel. Anyway, the orignal Citadel was very sparce in its details. That was a design trait of the JG material, and depending on your perspective was either a good thing or a bad thing. I was a fledgling DM so I was a little unsure of how to run the NPCs in Citadel. I think the added material in the d20 version of Citadel will greatly enhance the DM's usability of Citadel in a campaign.

brvheart wrote:

The RPG Realms version <snip> A lot of things they did well, like the cover art.

Not sure if the sarcasm filter is on or off here. The cover of the Quicklink version of Dark Tower looked like it belonged on a comic book to me. Seriously lacking in my opinion when compared with either the original cover by P Jaquays or the new cover of the Estros Games version.

Dark Tower is shipping from the printer this week... depending on timing to distributors, it should be in stores the first week of November.

That's good news indeed. I shall be buying this for sure, along with Castle Whiterock. I was waiting for them to come from the printer in time for our annual gaming reunion in our association, so we can include them in our demo games.

Dark Tower was one of the great ones, IMNSHO, and seeing it released by Goodman Games and Estros Games for the d20 system is fantastic.

Can't wait to get my grubby mits on this wicked fun dungeon!

tacojohn4547

Yeah, I really like Citadel and Fortress, so I am eager to get this too. Dare I say it? I think they are huge improvements over the originals with the quality production and I like the additional stuff.

Now to hope Tegal Manor comes out next July. Yes, I know who is producing that one. It will be interesting to see it in full color. I have a feeling I will be glad I have the original maps for that one, but I'll wait and see. There have been a fair number of gorgeous full color maps in 3E.

Yeah, I really like Citadel and Fortress, so I am eager to get this too. Dare I say it? I think they are huge improvements over the originals with the quality production and I like the additional stuff.

As heretical as that is, I tend to agree with you Treebore. I too like the additional material that fleshes out what was there in the original versions. I'm running Caverns of Thracia currently, and while the adventure still has a lot to get your hands around, the d20 version has been a huge help to me as the DM.

Treebore wrote:

Now to hope Tegal Manor comes out next July. Yes, I know who is producing that one. It will be interesting to see it in full color. I have a feeling I will be glad I have the original maps for that one, but I'll wait and see. There have been a fair number of gorgeous full color maps in 3E.

Like I said on the Necromancer boards, I'm sure I'll get Tegel Manor when it does come out. I'd have preferred it in d20 instead of 4E, but that's life.

In the case of these updates of Judges Guild adventures, having a full color presentation doesn't really do much for me. It doesn't say "old school" or "first edition" to me. In fact, full color kind of makes me think of the beginnings of the end of first edition era and the beginning of the second edition era.

So, yeah, I'm glad I have copies of the original TM maps, too. Heck, I even like the maps in the Gamescience version of TM. They're b&w on white paper instead of the beige paper that JG used.

Ok, my two cents: improving on Citadel of Fire and Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor was a very legitimate and achievable goal. Both were from the critical very early stages of published gaming supplements (1976 - 1978), and both were great in their day and very memorable. But they suffered from some limitations that early adventures had. They were blazing a trail and didn't have a ton of material to compare to. By late 1979/early 1980, the very creative and brilliant writers who were influenced by the early stuff had already upped the arms race on writing more complete, plot/story-driven adventures vs. small episodic romps.

To me, Citadel and Fortress needed more plot and context. That made them deeper, richer, and more fun. There's a lot more update there than just new stats. Dark Tower, however, is a whole 'nother story. Absolutely ground-breaking in it's plot-driven, story-laden ambience. Revered by just about anybody who wrote the D&D stuff you like/love from the 1980's or 1990's, and some of those writing for the genre today (like myself and the guys from Necro, etc.). I just don't see the need to add as much to it. To me, it needed a little updating, some dusting-off, and (of course) the new stats. But by and large, it still shines.

There are some minor changes to it. And some cleanup/dusting-off. And it does have updated stats, which will bring it into the modern era of gaming and allow you to easily spin it to C&C if you want, etc. And for those of you running a Wilderlands campaign, we've provided some ideas for a fomal tie-in to the Wilderlands if you like. But Dark Tower is still Dark Tower. And you're going to love it!

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